Trivia: What Was the Shortest lived GM Rebadge?

[Ming]

I'm not sure that I know the answer myself. Let's call it the least appreciated nameplate in the last 2+ decades. What NAMEPLATE (not trim level like a 2-door version of this or that) "rebadge" got killed after only one (or actually less than one) year, for instance?

Let's allow 3 answers:

1. Vehicle name included an element of its previous name
2. Vehicle name changed or dropped completely, but vehicle itself kept in lineup
3. Vehicle dropped completely from (Pontiac, Cadillac, etc.) lineup

[banzai79]

The Corsica was sold in Canada as the Pontiac Tempest in the late 80's. It was dropped in only a year or two, I think.

[Ming]

I love those Canadian nameplates. This year alone GM Canada will launch a bunch.

How about in the USA?

[sceltor]

Possibly one of the J-body clones--Cadillac Cimarron, Olds Firenza, or Buick Skyhawk.

[casket_demon]

The J-1000

[Ming]

Originally posted by casket_demon@Apr 18 2004, 06:08 PM
The J-1000

Was there a J1000? I'd never heard of it until now.

[bobo]

The Chevette-clone was a T1000 for 1981 and 1982, renamed 1000 the following year.. Similarly, the 1982 J2000 was renamed the 2000 for 1983, 2000 Sunbird for 1984, and Sunbird for 1985. The Somerset Regal lasted only for 1985, getting renamed to Somerset in 1986, and the sedan version for 1986 was named Skylark. The Somerset was renamed Skylark too for 1988.

[coolcaddy]

Originally posted by bobo@Apr 18 2004, 07:12 PM
The Chevette-clone was a T1000 for 1981 and 1982, renamed 1000 the following year..  Similarly, the 1982 J2000 was renamed the 2000 for 1983, 2000 Sunbird for 1984, and Sunbird for 1985.  The Somerset Regal lasted only for 1985, getting renamed to Somerset in 1986, and the sedan version for 1986 was named Skylark.  The Somerset was renamed Skylark too for 1988.

... :huh:

[bakerna]

j1000 was pontiac, j2000 was pontiac, I believe, as well. The whole somerset thing was olds...just to clear it up.
On a side note, my grandparents had a pontiac parisienne. I loved that thing, they didnt get rid of it until a couple of years ago. I loved riding in it. called it the silver bullet. oh man, I missed that thing...it had a corvette V8 in it so it would motor quite well....way back when it was normal for large sedans to be RWD.... anyway.... the tempest was cool too

[doh]

I would think it must be the Pontiac Lemans re Daewoo rebadge lasted only 2 years

[cyboexpo2002]

Originally posted by doh@Apr 19 2004, 07:31 AM
I would think it must be the Pontiac Lemans re Daewoo rebadge lasted only 2 years

:roflmao:

[Rex Raider]

Originally posted by bakerna@Apr 19 2004, 07:17 AM
The whole somerset thing was olds...just to clear it up.

Huh?

The Somerset thing was all Buick.

[paul8488]

hmmm... not sure how long any of the asunas lived (asuna was pontiac's version of geo in canada during a few years in the 90's). i don't think the sunrunner (aka suzuki sidekick), sunfire (aka isuzu impulse) or se/gt (aka pontiac lemans/passport optima) lasted more than a few years.

[Ming]

From purely a name plate perspective, it would seem that the Pontiac J2000 (or 2000) or perhaps the T1000 ("Acadian" in Canada?) take the cake as the shortest-lived.

(Anyone know how long the Buick Skyhawk and Olds Firenza J-bodies lasted?)

I assume the "J" in J2000 was from its J-body platform.

Photos of the masterpieces:

[bobo]

Pontiac's last foray into alphanumerics in the early '80's had the formula of body letter + multiple of 1000. The T-body Chevette-clone was therefore T1000. The new 1982 J-body (which replaced the H-body Sunbird) was named J2000. For whatever reason the A-body that replaced the LeMans and Grand Am for 1982 was called just 6000, not A6000. Audis at the time already claimed 4000 and 5000.

In 1983, Pontiac decided to drop the body letter, hence it was just 1000 and 2000. The 2000 didn't really have an identity, so Pontiac decided to rename it Sunbird, but it did so in a transition, calling it the 2000 Sunbird for 1983 and just Sunbird for 1984. Fortunately, when the 1984 Fiero was introduced, Pontiac ceased doing new alphanumeric names, as P3000 was one of the considered names. The 1000 lived on for a few more years, later replaced in the lineup by the Daewoo-build LeMans from 1987 to 1992.